


Zodiac Prophecy

by RockSunner



Category: Gravity Falls
Genre: Betrayal, Drama, Gap Filler, Gen, Historical Fantasy, Native American Character(s), Pioneer times, Prophecy, Shamanism, Time Paradoxes, Time Travel, long-term schemes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-18
Updated: 2016-02-26
Packaged: 2018-05-21 11:56:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 7,289
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6050752
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RockSunner/pseuds/RockSunner
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>What is the story of the prophecy behind the "Cipher Wheel"? Spoilers for W3. Gravity Falls belongs to Alex Hirsch and Disney, not me.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Covered Wagon

The young native American shaman meditated that afternoon in the sacred cave, where the first shaman had recorded the summoning of the Beast with One Eye. Centuries had passed and that one had not been summoned again. The shamans guarded the cave, to prevent anyone else from learning how to summon the evil one, handing down the secret from one generation to the next.

The whole valley belong to his tribe, but now pale-skinned outsiders were coming through. The Oregon Trail ran through this area. It went up a winding switchback road, down into this valley for water, then out on the other side.

His tribe traded with the outsiders. One man, who called himself a missionary, gave the Shaman a strange book of wisdom. He had tried to learn to read it, after being taught the sounds of the letters. The Shaman could already read the ancient prophecy script, so it was not that hard to pick up.

Deep in his meditative trance, there came a sudden burst of revelation. Two children were in a settler's wagon, coming up the trail. There was something strange about them; they didn't belong there. They were charged with power from moving in time. Time tries to fight such changes, so it seemed they had created a destiny for themselves.

He had to know more. The Shaman focused as he had been trained, and read from their minds.

A boy with a Pine Tree symbol on his hat. He had started all of this.

A young woman, and a torn bag the boy had been trying to get for her for some reason. It was marked with an English word the Shaman could read, "ICE."

A rival boy with a Stitched Heart on his clothing. The Pine Tree boy was trying to keep the woman he liked away from him, and that is how all the time trouble began.

The Shaman began branching out to others whose lives the boy had touched, or would touch someday. The time energy surrounding them allowed him to probe their future.

A journal with a Six-Fingered Hand, and the man who wrote it. He glimpsed the man in the boy's future, seen by the boy with great admiration.

Another scholarly man who had once worked with that writer to build something. The image was fuzzy. The boy knew the scholar, but not as he used to be. He used to wear the things some of the pale-skinned people put in front of their eyes, called Glasses. Unable to see exactly what those Glasses looked like, the Shaman substituted the image of the ones worn by the author.

An old man with a strange Hat Symbol, related to the two children and to the Six-Fingered Hand. His brother was lost and would be returned, at the cost of great danger to the world.

The Shaman turned his mind to the girl. He saw in her mind many colorful warm clothes, but her favorite of these garments had a Shooting Star. He picked that as her symbol.

In Shooting Star's mind he saw a rival girl, her opposite, who had taken from her a pig that she wanted. That was why she was here, because of trying to change that outcome in her favor.

Looking into her future, he saw the image of a garment Shooting Star no longer liked, with something like a Fuzzy Horse on it. While wearing it, she had gone out with a young magic user with the symbol of an Eye in a Star on his clothing, and that relationship had gone sour. In her future, he saw Shooting Star giving the despised clothing to the rival girl, because she didn't care for her enough to make a new one, as she did for many others.

In his mind, the Shaman assigned the symbol of the Fuzzy Horse to this rival, with the symbol facing in the opposite direction to show her as the opposite of Shooting Star.

Then there was a man with a Question Mark on his clothing, who both the young people liked. Something was strange. They had touched his life before when he was very young, leading to him holding the job he now had. How could this be?

Probing the future further, the Shaman found something very troubling. Meddling twice in time had completely set their destiny. It meant they would cross the path of another man who traveled in time. The Shaman sensed this would cause the world great harm. The old prophecy would come to pass: "When gravity falls and earth becomes sky, fear the Beast with just One Eye."

But perhaps, if he gave them a warning prophecy, that damage could be undone. This set of ten people he had seen could do it, charged with the power the two young people had accumulated by moving in time, if they all joined together in the right way. It would cost all of their lives, but they could banish the demon and seal him away from the world.

The Shaman painted on the cave wall a Wheel showing his vision of what they must do.

That night, the yellow demon came in his dreams.


	2. A Real Fun Guy To Talk To

The Shaman walked in his dreamscape, a clearing in the deep woods where cool breezes blew. Deer ran by, some by themselves and some ridden by friendly gnomes who waved to him.

A hot blast of air scattered the deer, and a yellow triangle appeared, floating in the air.

"Well, well, well!" said the triangle in a loud, reverberating voice. "Somebody painted a new picture of me in the old cave!"

An image formed around the triangle, showing the symbols of his prophecy. He briefly made himself look like the painting. "A better likeness than last time, and a very interesting frame."

"The Beast with One Eye!" said the Shaman, trying to show no fear.

"I'm so flattered, I'm going to give you a pair of gnome-skin moccasins."

The demon gestured into the woods and two gnomes were pulled to him. He transformed them into the shape of shoes, still alive.

"I do not want them," said the Shaman. "Put them back."

"If you say so," said Bill, and the gnomes were returned to normal. They scampered away.

"What do you want with me, Beast with One Eye?" asked the Shaman.

"I call myself Bill Cipher these days. I'm just a Bill, and I was sitting there on Capitol Hill."

"Why were you there?" asked the Shaman.

"I helped a nut become President so I could get my picture printed on money. The more pictures of me there are, the more I can watch and gain power. But the idiot put it on a bill that's less than worthless, so nobody ever uses it."

The Shaman shook his head. "That is not the reason you are here."

"What you just painted, that's a picture of me I find much more valuable. A Zodiac, huh? Most use twelve symbols, but ten will do. The point is, a thing like that wouldn't be needed unless... I was out in your world. That's going to happen, isn't it?"

"I have nothing to say to you," said the Shaman.

"Come on, I'll make you a deal. You caught a good look at the future. Let me into your mind to see it, and I'll make you the most powerful shaman who ever lived."

"I will not deal with you. I will not take your hand. We have been warned against this in our legends for generations."

"Aww, too bad. Then I'm just going to have to poke around here and find the people of your Zodiac myself."

"Do not disturb my people. The children in the covered wagon are long gone."

"Ooh, children in a covered wagon? That's a great clue! It means I'll be free very soon. And once I am, they won't be able to stop me, Zodiac or no Zodiac."

"They will stop you, demon," said the Shaman.

"You're a real fun guy to talk to. By that, I mean easy to trick out of information. But now I must be going. I have a Zodiac to find."

The triangle laughed manically and vanished.


	3. Founding the Falls

Bill scanned down the Oregon Trail from his inter-dimensional peephole and found all the covered wagons that had passed through the Shaman's valley during the day he made the prophetic painting.

One large family of candle-makers, the Meccs, caught his eye. They showed traces of tampering by an agent of the Time Baby, and they had very hazy memories of the previous day. These had to be the children the Shaman was talking about; Bill would keep an eye on them.

Bill Cipher needed a place where all the symbols of the Zodiac could be gathered (so they could be destroyed after they had done their part in bringing him to power). This valley, with its weak barriers to other dimensions, was ideal.

But first, Bill needed a settlement, a town. And that town needed a founder. Bill knew just the right guy for the job. President Sir LordQuentin Trembley III, Esq. had been aimlessly wandering the country for years after running off after his first year as the eight-and-one-half President of the United States.

* * *

It had happened like this: the Democratic candidates, Martin Van Buren and Richard Mentor Johnson, got the majority of the popular vote. (The opposing party, the Whigs, ran two Presidential candidates in hopes of splitting the electoral college vote and throwing the decision of who should be President to the House of Representatives, which they controlled. This strategy was a failure.)

But before the electoral college could meet and actually elect Van Buren and Johnson, the two men simply disappeared (in fact, they were kidnapped by a man possessed by Bill Cipher, and they eventually escaped).

In desperation that the Whigs would win after all, the Democrats held a secret emergency vote to select substitute candidates in January of 1837.

Bill appeared to Quentin Trembley in a dream and told him exactly where on the wooden political platform to stand, "for luck." Bill used another possessed man to set a bomb and cause a landslide onto the platform, killing all but Trembley, allowing him to win by default.

Trembley proved to be a lunatic, who made a de-pantsification proclamation and declared war on pancakes. He also issued a new piece of currency with his face on it, the negative twelve dollar bill. This was something Bill had wanted, to give his own image on the back of the bill wide circulation, but since the currency was less than worthless it never caught on.

* * *

Bill's attempt at meddling in politics had been a failure, but Trembley still considered Bill a friend and would listen to his advice in dreams.

Early one morning in 1861, he was riding backwards on his horse at high speed, on a course Bill had suggested the night before. He and his horse went over a steep cliff and landed in the lake below the valley's largest waterfall. The horse took most of the impact, and died. Trembley survived.

Natives of the valley approached, wide-eyed with astonishment.

"I declare, I have just discovered an amazing fact," said Trembley. "Gravity falls!"

"You are very brave, and have the favor of the spirits to survive such a fall," said one of the men.

"You may live here in our valley if you wish," said one of the leaders.

"I'll take you up on that offer, my friends," said Trembley. "If you let me found my own town here."

After some discussion, the tribe agreed. The Shaman was opposed at first, but he eventually decided that it was destiny, and gave in.

* * *

Trembley found a lawyer among the settlers passing through, and filled out paperwork to found the town and become its first mayor.

"I think you've made a mistake," said the lawyer. "You put the date of establishment of the town as 1842. This is 1861."

"That's to fool the giant man-eating spiders," said Trembley. "They won't dare to attack if they think we've been here long enough to build up our defenses."

In spite of Trembley's eccentric leadership, which included creating a law allowing marriage to woodpeckers, Gravity Falls quickly grew and prospered. Its position as a trading post on the Oregon Trail brought swift success.

* * *

By 1862 were enough horses in town that the streets needed constant sweeping. Nathaniel Northwest, the village idiot, barely made enough by shoveling manure to support himself and his family.

One day, Mayor President Sir LordQuentin Trembley III, Esq. came up to Nathaniel and presented him with a piece of paper money.

"Thank ya' kindly, yer honor," said the poor man.

"Don't thank me for the money," said Trembley. "I've just made you twelve dollars poorer. But there's an incantation written on it that will bring you prosperity. A friendly spirit told me so in a dream."

"A-a dream, sir?" said Nathaniel.

"Don't doubt Bill. He has never failed me yet. Simply recite the words and you will receive a visitor in your sleep," said Trembley.

"But sir, I cain't read," said Nathaniel.

"Then recite after me. Triangulum, entangulum,..."

* * *

That night, Bill Cipher came to Nathaniel Northwest in his sleep.

"What's that smell? Oh, it's you," said the dream demon. "Bill Cipher here. I have a deal for you. I'll give you and your descendants the cunning to raise yourselves out of poverty. I'll just need a little favor from you that we can discuss later."

"I got nothin' to lose, I reckon," said Nathaniel.

"More or less," said Bill. "So here's what you do. I'll show you a map into the forest to a place where there are magic mushrooms. Mash them up and put them on your forehead overnight. Don't eat them – that way you'd get poisoned. They'll make that lame brain of yours smart."

"I reckon this makes me a wizard, talking to a magic spirit 'n all," said Nathaniel.

"Whatever," said Bill. "Just remember what I told you. Got it?"

"Umm, yeah. Find the mushrooms and eat them to get smart," said Nathaniel.

"NO! Don't eat them, mash them on your forehead!" said Bill. 'It's not funny how dumb you are."

* * *

The mushrooms didn't supply super-intelligence, but they did increase his wits. Nathaniel found he was quickly able to learn to read and write, and he wrote a letter to the federal government, informing them of the rogue President who was running Gravity Falls.

The government, eager to bury all that embarrassing history, sent agents to get Trembley. But before they arrived, Bill had helped Trembley go into suspended animation. There was more in the peanut brittle he encased himself with than sugar, butter, and peanuts, thanks to Bill.

The agents rewarded Nathaniel Northwest anyway, declaring him the true founder and mayor of Gravity Falls. Nathaniel moved into the mayor's mansion with his wife and kids. That was a step up, but he soon wanted more. With new eloquence and leadership, he persuaded the lumberjacks of the town to build him a fine mansion on the hill with the promise of a yearly party that he didn't intend to keep. It would take a few years and cost some lives, but he and his family were worth it, Nathaniel decided.

* * *

A few years after the mansion was finished, in 1865, Nathaniel Northwest was visited by the Shaman, bearing a woven tapestry. It showed a scene of horror, with a yellow triangle rising above cowering humans.

"Have you seen this being?" the Shaman asked.

"No, I ain't never seen him," said Nathaniel. "Why?"

"I have a sense that this demon, the Beast with One Eye, will try to use your family to gain power in this world. Beware, for if it ever succeeds it will be the end of the world."

"What am I supposed to do?"

"Take this tapestry and hang it up in your home. Pass it on to your children, and remind them of the danger of dealing with this being."

"I will do that, I promise," said Nathaniel, shaking the man's hand while crossing his fingers behind his back.

"I and the shamans who come after me will always be ready to help and guide you if the demon ever comes to you," said the Shaman.

"Thank you kindly," said Nathaniel.

When the Shaman was gone, Nathaniel called in his trusted men. "Those redskins know too much about my business. I heard tell through my government contacts of a massacre of the Injuns at Sand Creek last year, near the town of Denver, Colorado, and how it was all covered up. We need something like that around here."

After his men left to make arrangements, Nathaniel thought about having his picture painted as a great peacemaker with the Indians. He would make another picture to gloat over in secret, showing how he double-crossed them. Pictures like that could become a family tradition...


	4. Northwests and Pines

Bill Cipher continued to watch the fortunes of the Northwest family. Nathaniel Northwest has two sons, Cyrus, and Davy; and one daughter, Angelina. Bill persuaded Nathaniel in a dream to import four llamas as pets for his daughter, in hopes that Angelina would become the Llama of the Zodiac and that he could find the others among her friends and enemies. The spoiled girl doted on the animals for a while, but soon grew bored and neglected them. Her brother Cyrus, who had an interest in farming, took over raising and breeding them.

Nathaniel found his mental abilities failing as the percepshrooms he had used began to wear off. He started using them more and more, and eventually his mind failed. He died from choking on a piece of bark, proclaiming that he was a powerful wizard who could eat an oak tree.

Bill was disappointed that the prophecy wasn't fulfilled immediately. The symbols were just not coming together. He kept waiting and watching, generation after generation.

Bill also lured the candle-making Meccs back to live in town, but nothing came of that. One of their descendants would eventually wear a "Free Pizza" logo on his shirt, but there was no pizza sign in the prophecy.

Davy became a hunter, and he over-hunted the animals of the valley. Cyrus used underhanded means as a farmer, poisoning his neighbors crops and selling them food at outrageously high prices. He also took to secret highway robbery, wearing a mask. He quickly built up the family wealth and had almost everyone in Gravity Falls in debt to the Northwests.

Davy died young in a "hunting accident" (because he had enraged the gnomes that protected the forest creatures). Cyrus had two sons: Peter and Victor. Peter entered the military and rose high in the ranks, more due to his ferocity in army politics than his valor in battle. He left Gravity Falls and didn't come back.

Victor discovered the secret of the mushrooms in the diary of his grandfather, and became a scientific genius; some would call him a mad scientist. He discovered secrets of cloning and genetic manipulation. He sold his creations secretly and brought the family even more money.

Victor's son, Preston, was somewhat shrewd in business (more so in social climbing) and he owned among other things a mud-flaps factory. Victor used half of the place for his cloning research. The chemicals he dumped into the water had interesting effects on the farm animals downstream.

There was still no sign of the prophecy coming together until the arrival of a twelve-fingered researcher, Stanford Pines, in 1975. Bill hadn't been summoned in a long while and his presence in Gravity Falls was weak, so he couldn't do much with the man right away.

When Ford looked into the history of the founding of Gravity Falls for clues to its weirdness, he discovered a negative twelve dollar bill and a cryptic map in the Gravity Falls Library archives. Ford took both the map and the bill for further research, without telling anyone. With the image of Bill carried in his wallet, Ford had provided an opening.

Bill visited Ford in dreams for several nights as a silent figure, surrounded by a glowing ring of the symbols of the Zodiac. He hoped that Ford would be curious and seek out the other symbols, but the scientist was too busy with his many other research paths. Ford did record the Zodiac in his second journal, just as Bill presented it. (Bill used all the correct symbols but in the wrong arrangement. He hoped that if they ever tried to use the Zodiac against him they would use that incorrect arrangement, and fail. Then they would be all gathered for Bill to destroy.)

A few years later, in 1981, Ford discovered Bill's summoning formula in the old native American caves, and the game was on for real. Bill became Ford's "muse" and "friend," leading him to build a Universe Portal with the help of an old college buddy, Fiddleford Hadron McGucket.

Even after Fiddleford accidentally glimpsed the Nightmare Realm, and Ford became suspicious enough to shut down the Portal, Bill was confident that the prophecy would work itself out. Ford sent for his brother Stanley, and their fight sent Ford through the Portal. The inexperienced Stan was far more likely than Ford to cause the rift Bill needed, in his attempt to get his brother back. He took to wearing a fez, making him the second Zodiac symbol to appear.

During the time that Stan was impersonating his brother and turning the latter's home into a tourist trap, old Victor Northwest became curious about the supposedly brilliant scientist turning showman. He decided that "Stanford" has some secret research project worth stealing.

Victor had Northwest Properties (who held the mortgage on the home) give Stan a llama to start a petting zoo on the side, supposedly in compensation for an accounting error with the mortgage. Victor's genetic manipulation skills had allowed him to turn one of the descendants of the original llamas into a human-level intelligent beast he could use as a spy. But Stan, a master con artist himself, was too shrewd to be fooled for long. He caught the creature spying and committed llamacide.

Preston Northwest met Priscilla Fell, Ms. Mudflap of 1985. They married, and in 1999 their daughter Pacifica was born. There was nothing to immediately connect her to a symbol, but Bill kept an eye on her because of the family's llama connection.

In 2002, young Jesus Alzamirano Ramírez found a red screwdriver with a Mystery Shack insignia in his backyard. He took it back to the Mystery Shack, and found himself hired as a handyman. His question-mark shirt made him the third definite symbol to appear.

And in 2012, many more symbols appeared and got connected all at once: Pine Tree, Shooting Star, Stitched Heart, and Eye in the Pentagram. Bill knew the time was near.


	5. Blendin Gamed

It was a bit of a problem for Bill that Stan only had Journal 1. Gideon Gleeful had found Journal 2 in one of Ford's hiding places in the woods (along with a magical amulet that was dangerous to the mind of the user in the long term), and Dipper had Journal 3. How was he going to bring the Journals all together so the Portal could be completed? Bill needed a new agent that he could possess, to make things happen in the real world.

An opportunity came at the Mystery Fair, one that was too good for Bill to miss: a time traveler came from the future, one who always kept his abnormally-large eyes covered with goggles.

Cornered by Dipper and Mabel, the time traveler was forced to admit his identity.

"Blendin Blandin, Time Anomaly Removal Crew year twenty snyeventy-twelve. My mission is to stop a series of time anomalies that are suppose to happen at this very location! But-but I don't see any anomalies! I don't know if it's some kind of paradox, or I'm just really tired..."

"You know, you sound like you could use a break," said Dipper.

"Definitely, definitely. Might we recommend one of the various attractions at the Mystery Fair?" said Mabel, offering him some tickets.

"You know what? What the heck! I'm worth it! But I've got my eye on you!" said Blendin.

At the Rusty Barrel Rodeo, Soos asked him to take off his tool belt for the ride.

"Guard it with your life," Blendin told him.

"I will watch it like a hawk, dude."

After an entertaining ride, Blendin came back to the man.

"Where is it? Where is my tape measure?" asked Blendin, using the local term.

"Aw man, I don't know. It was right here. Sorry, dude," said Soos.

"Nooo!" cried Blendin.

He ran around the fair, looking for the kids. There was no sign of them. Were they jumping around in time with his machine? He was in so much trouble...

Finally, exhausted, he sat down with his back against a tree. He would rest for a few moments, then keep looking. He had to find those kids.

Bill poked around in his sleeping mind for a little while before revealing himself, discovering useful facts about the future ruled by the Time Baby, and about Globnar.

"Hi Baldy!" he shouted, appearing in Blendin's dream.

"What's going on?" Blendin said. "Am I dreaming?"

"Yes you are, but I'm completely real. The name's Bill Cipher and I'm here to help."

"What can you do?" asked Blendin.

"I'll keep you out of jail," said Bill. "Just give me your hand."

Not knowing any better, Blendin shook Bill's blue-flaming hand. With a tug, Bill pulled him out of his body and took over. It wasn't all of Bill, just a partial projection from the Nightmare Realm. The main part of him was still needed to keep watch on the situation in Gravity Falls.

"What did you do?" Blendin's spirit cried out in shock.

"What I promised. Now, even if this body goes to jail, it won't be you. Hahahaha!"

Blendin watched helplessly from the Dreamscape as Billendin got the time machine back from the kids, after they had meddled sufficiently to get Blendin in a lot of trouble.

"Do you have any idea, how many rules you just broke?! I'm asking; I wasn't there with you...it was probably a lot, right?"

Agents Lolph and Dundgren popped in next to Billendin.

Dundgren said, "Blendin Blandin..."

"Aaagh! The Time Paradox Avoidance Enforcement Squadron!" yelled Billendin.

"That's right, and our phones have been ringing off the hook! There are settlers high-fiving in the 1800's and calculators littered through eight centuries!" said Lolph.

"You're under arrest for violation of the Time Traveler's Code of Conduct," said Dundgren, putting Billendin in handcuffs.

"It was those kids! And their leader, Waddles!" said Billendin. (That was a bit of a joke by Bill, but also a mistake. The real Blendin wouldn't have known the pig's name).

"That's a pig, Blendin," said Lolph.

"I'll get you for this! I'll go back in time and make sure your parents never meet!" said Billendin.

The kids smiled at this because they didn't immediately disappear, but Bill was setting them up for his Globnar scheme.

* * *

Billendin faced the Time Baby in white Judgment Space. The Baby held him suspended in a blue beam of force.

"You have broken the eternal laws of space-time!" said the Time Baby.

"I beg your mercy, Time Baby!" said Billendin.

He was acting his part while thinking about how he could destroy the Time Baby someday.

"You now must clean up all of the anomalies," ordered the Time Baby.

Billendin was sent from Judgment Space to a preparation room. Lolph and Dundgren joined him.

"Here are the times and places that must be fixed," Lolph said, handing him a list. "I recommend you work through them in order from first to last."

Dundgren said, "Your device will monitor your progress. If you do well, you will have no further punishment. If you do badly, you will do time and time again in the Infinitentiary."

Lolph said, "Your first location is in the Jurassic period, where a T-Rex was disturbed. You need to wipe its memory and get it back on its former track."

"A T-T-Rex? How can I p-possibly handle that?" asked Billendin.

"Here is a long-range tractor beam you can use to immobilize it," said Dundgren. "Good luck, and be sure not to step on any butterflies back there."

* * *

After the clean-ups were complete, Billendin did a few unauthorized hops. First he went back to the youth of Stanley and Stanford Pines. He wrote a little graffiti on a boarded-up cave on a beach where the Stan Twins played, "Blendin was here." It was just a bit of mischief to get Blendin in trouble.

Billendin hopped back to Gravity Falls, a few weeks after the fair. (He could communicate back to the main part of himself when he was in the same time period.) There was a big scheme underway to get the Journals back to Stan. It was going to be a whole lot easier, using feedback from a time traveler.

Billendin went ahead and saw Gideon's robot was headed for a fall, a huge event that would draw everyone in town. He could expose evidence that Gideon had been spying on them. Gideon would go to jail, and Stan would get Journal 2.

Planting the evidence was easy. Gideon had discovered that Old Man McGucket was a secret robot maker, and Gideon had commissioned him to build his own Gideon-bot to help him control the town once he took over. It was hidden in plain sight as a statue for Gideonland.

Bill had sufficient control over McGucket through his dreams and wild imaginations to implant suggestions into his confused brain. He suggested to McGucket that Gideon would like a room in his bot with surveillance videos he had collected on the townsfolk, playing in a loop. McGucket had added this to the robot secretly, saving it as a "surprise" to show Gideon later.

While he was at it, he wanted Stan to be the one to reveal the evidence, making him a local hero. Then Dipper and Mabel would be inclined to trust him and show him Journal 3. So Billendin made an anonymous phone call to Stan at Soos' grandmother's house, just after Stan had figured out for himself that Gideon was using his pins to spy on people.

"Hello, Mr. Pines?" said Billendin over the phone.

"Yeah, who is this?" said Stan.

"Never mind, I have two things to tell you, and there's not much time. First, there's evidence of Gideon's spying inside his robot statue. You just have to kick open a panel near the stomach to expose it. Second, Gideon's about to accuse your grandniece and grandnephew and send them to jail. You have to get over to the field under the railroad bridge right away. There's going to be a huge explosion there in a few minutes, so you can't miss it."

Billendin hung up. Stan would come, and take all the credit, too.

Now he had to jump to the field. The basic idea that the robot would fall and explode to draw in the people was all right. But he knew that Dipper and Mabel had been pulled into the mess. There were just too many possible outcomes that were bad for Bill. Dipper and Mabel could die in the fall (more likely just Dipper, if Mabel was only able to save herself with the grappling hook). Either way, Stan would kill Gideon and go to prison, completely ruining Bill's plan.

A time-traveler was required to adjust the situation, repeating if necessary. Using the long-distance tractor beam that Blendin had been given to deal with the T-Rex, Billendin adjusted the fall of the robot, Dipper, and Mabel until everything was working just right for them to survive. He also made sure that Journal 1 fell out where Dipper could reclaim it. Stan could only get away with one and keep his secret, so Dipper had to hold the other for now.

As Stan screeched in, driving his El Diablo, Billendin walked away. He noticed that the symbol on his time travel device has turned red, which was a sure sign that Blendin was going to be in a lot of trouble when he reported back to the future.

* * *

The main part of Bill made use of the advance knowledge Billendin passed back to him, when Gideon summoned him. He showed Gideon that he knew "lots of things," including images of the fallen robot and the prison, hoping to lock in those outcomes for Gideon.

Even though he knew the deal would fail in advance, he went into Stan's Dreamscape to confront Shooting Star, Pine Tree, and Question Mark. He wanted to take their measure, and see how well they would do against him.

Shooting Star's Nyarf gun (which she summoned without realizing it, before Pine Tree revealed they could imagine weapons) showed that she was a creative force to be reckoned with. Bill decided he needed to use her creativity against her with a diabolical trap that would keep her (and anyone who tried to free her) contained indefinitely.

He said, "You know, I've been impressed with you guys. You are more clever than you look. Especially the fat one." (That last part was to misdirect attention away from Mabel).

Question Mark said to Shooting Star, "He's talking about you."

Question Mark was surprisingly perceptive at times. He had predicted the arm cannon attack that dumped Stan into the water tank. Bill suspected he had some Shaman blood on his father's side.

* * *

As he expected, Billendin was sentenced to multiple lifetimes in the Infinitentiary. With his intelligence and information-gathering abilities, escape would be easy.

He would make a Globnar challenge against Dipper and Mabel, and throw the last event, expecting the twins would have mercy. From what he had observed of them, he knew they were not killers. The reconciliation would make a trick offer believable later.

Once he was free, he would wait for a moment of weakness. Then he would strike.


	6. Time Baby Loop

Blendin had waited in the Dreamscape, scouring around the Mystery Shack and through the woods for many days. Like a ghost, he didn't require food or sleep. He worried that he would never get his body back.

Finally, Blendin sensed his body. Billendin was waiting in the forest, with the suit in camouflage mode.

Mabel came running up; she collapsed under a tree in tears.

"Only party chocolate can cheer me up now," said Mabel, rummaging in the backpack and pulling things out. "Nerd books? Chewed up pens? Ugh, wrong backpack. Not fair. I just wish summer could last forever."

She pulled her sweater up over her head to be in Sweatertown.

Billendin said, "That might be possible!"

"Sweatertown is not accepting incoming calls right now," said Mabel.

"M-M-M-Mabel, it's me," said Billendin.

"No! Don't listen to him! It's not me!" cried the real Blendin, but Mabel couldn't hear him.

"What? Who said that?" said Mabel.

Billendin adjusted the camouflage suit until he was visible. "I-I-I can help."

"The time travel guy? What are you doing here?" asked Mabel

"You said you don't want summer to end, right? D-did-did I hear that right?"

"Yeah... why are you asking?"

"Look, maybe it's against the rules, but you once did a favor for me, so I thought I could help you out. It's called a time bubble, and it prevents time from going forward. Summer in Gravity Falls can last as long as you want it to!"

"R-Really? But how does it work?"

"I just need you to get a little gizmo for me from your uncle. It's something small. He won't even know it's missing."

"Don't give him anything! It's a trick!" said the real Blendin, trying to get between them, but his invisible, unsolid form was useless.

"Huh. Maybe Dipper has something like that in his nerd-bag," said Mabel. She looked inside and pulled out the container for the rift. "Huh. That's... odd. This it?"

"Yes, that's it! Just hand it over and I'll do my thing. Unless you're ready to leave Gravity Falls."

"Just a little more summer."

"Nooo!" the real Blendin screamed.

"Oops!"

Billendin dropped the container. It had withstood many shocks today, but he knew exactly how to drop it in order to fracture it. He stomped on it, letting the dimensional energy flow out.

"What?!" said Mabel.

Billendin laughed, and took his goggles off to reveal yellow Bill eyes.

"Oh no! Wait, wait wait!" said Mabel.

Billendin snapped his fingers, making Mabel fall unconscious.

Bill left Blendin's body as a stream of otherworldly energy poured from the open rift.

"At last! At long, long last! The gateway between worlds has opened! The event one billion years prophesied has finally come to pass! The day has come! The world is finally mine!"

(The prophecy he was talking about was not the Zodiac prophecy, but an old one by Paci-Fire, who could sense major disturbances in the flow of time. He had predicted a break-through on this planet long before there was intelligent life.)

Blendin re-entered his body. "Huh?! What just happened?"

The sleeping Mabel was lifted up and a pink bubble formed around her, with chains wrapped around it.

"Oh. Oh man. This is bad! This is real bad! Guys, we've got a situation!" said Blendin.

He activated his time machine, jumping forward to warn the Time Baby.

* * *

"I-I-I have an emergency report for the Time Baby," he told the guards at the throne room.

"You are too low-level to have authorization," said one guard.

The voice of the Time Baby boomed out, "Let him in, and clear the room. I want to hear this alone."

Blendin told his story: how he had lost his time machine, been tricked out of his body, and used to bring about the end of the world.

"I'm s-s-sorry. P-p-please don't hurt me, Time Baby, sir!"

"Do not fear," said the Time Baby. "You will not be punished. All of this was anticipated."

"W-what? That's g-good."

"I will personally lead a mission back in time to confront the demon," said the Time Baby.

A squad of time police was called in, led by Lolph.

"If anything goes wrong, come back to this place and time, five minutes after we leave," the Time Baby said.

* * *

The Time Baby took them all back in time, including Blendin. They were at the door of an immense black floating pyramid.

"Open up! This is the police. Time-police," called Lolph.

The door opened, revealing a room full of the most horrible creatures Blendin had ever seen, having a party. Bill Cipher was on a platform behind them all.

Lolph said, "Bill Cipher, you are in violation of the rules of space-time, and possessing the body of a time officer."

Blendin said, "My body is a temple! How dare you!"

But after saying this, Blendin felt so nervous that he ducked behind a pole rather than face the gaze of Bill.

Time Baby said, "Hear this, Cipher."

"Ugh, Time Baby," said Bill.

The Time Baby projected a hologram of the universe.

"If your rip in this dimension continues, it could destroy the very fabric of existence. Surrender now, or face my tantrum."

Bill said, "Oh, no, a tantrum. Whatever will a do about that HOW 'BOUT THIS? BOOM."

A blast of energy disintegrated the Time Baby and all the officers with him.

"Ah, snap! He just killed Time Baby!" said one of the demons.

"Yeahhh!" shouted all the demons as they began partying again.

"Aw, man, this has gone from bad to worse. I gotta get outta time-dodge," said Blendin, who had escaped the blast behind the pole.

Blendin activated his time machine and jumped back to the future.

* * *

In the throne room, a holographic projector turned on with an image of the Time Baby.

"I do not know how many of you survived our mission, but at least one of you did, or this message would not be playing. You need an explanation of what just happened, and it comes from my early history.

"I am the last of a race of Time Giants. I was hidden by my parents in suspended animation, in a glacier in the Antarctic, until someday in the far future when the glacier would melt. By then the alien enemies who wiped out the rest of our race would be gone.

"I was surprised to discover the reason for the melting was that a future version of me had been disintegrated, and re-formed in a terrible tantrum. He was destroying the world. I was able to merge with him and calm his temper. I restored the world and became its new leader, as I am today.

"The loop has come around, and it is time to pay the price for my success. I will confront the demon Bill Cipher, and my atoms will be dispersed, to be re-formed in a thousand years, to merge with my younger self.

"Cipher cannot win. By involving time agent Blandin in his plans, he locked in a future where Blandin exists, this future. He thought he would have enough control of time to avert the paradox, but he cannot. Time will fight to preserve the outcome. He will be defeated by the Zodiac Wheel, either directly or by some members of it coming up with another plan.

"The origin of this stable time loop has been lost after countless iterations. I sent Blandin to the past to look for time anomalies, knowing his time machine would create them. In the beginning, it might have been the improbability drive of the crashed alien ship beneath that town which created spontaneous anomalies.

"This is the end of my reign. Humans must take charge of their world again. I hope it will not end in anarchy and war. To help prevent that, I leave you one last time wish. Use it wisely."

A golden bubble floated up from behind the empty throne.

Blendin took it, trembling. "Nyaaah! What am I going to wish for?"

* * *

Dipper opened his backpack to look for a book to read on the long bus-ride home. He was shocked to discover the three Journals at the top.

On the cover of Journal 1 was a sticky note from Great Uncle Ford. "Every object Bill destroyed was restored after his defeat. After you told me how he burned the Journals, I went back to the vicinity of the church and found them on the ground. They're yours now. Stanley and I will be creating new ones. Read and enjoy."

"Look, Mabel! We have the Journals again," said Dipper.

"Wow, that's cool!" said Mabel.

"I want to look at the picture of the Zodiac Wheel in Journal 2. I skimmed past it before," said Dipper.

He found the page, and Mabel looked at it over his shoulder.

"There we all are," said Mabel. "Shooting Star, Pine Tree, Llama, and everyone."

"It's kind of creepy," said Dipper. "All of this was prophesied ages before we were born."

"Did we have any free will at all?" asked Mabel.

"I'm not sure how it works. Maybe it's like my ball tosses at the Mystery Fair. Things were bound to end up a certain way. Even when I changed it, I ended up putting it back."

"For me and Waddles. Thank you," said Mabel, hugging her pig.

"Anyway, the prophecy is done now. Anything can happen from now on," said Dipper.

"Forward into the unknown!" said Mabel.

"Forward into the unknown," said Dipper.

The End


End file.
